For years now my sig line has been "It's not paper." We can't design or architect for the web without understanding its nature (see my earlier post, The beginning of thinking)
Owen has a bright and remarkably calm "rant" on desingers that don't get the medium they are working in.
"This isn't news to anyone. But the web isn't screen either. Or more accurately it is print, and screen, and voice, and many other things. Right now it's December 2001 and chances are you're reading this on a PC or a Mac, so you think you're building pages for PC or Mac. Well, just stop. That's going to confuse the heck out of you as you build with CSS."
for fun sakes, some of my other sig lines have been
"Sweetcheeks, your desperate clinging to Old World technology was endearing at first, but now it just makes me tired. Paper is for the little people. "
--Heidi and Josh
"She was sinister but she was happy" --Robyn Hitchcock
To make two bold statements: There's nothing sentimental about a machine, and: A poem is a small (or large) machine made out of words. When I say there's nothing sentimental about a poem, I mean that there can be no part that is redundant.
William Carlos Williams
feel free to share your favorite sig.
Ryan's portfolio sports a nicely organized and well thought out style guide.
I may have blogged this before, but since these days I've been researching methods of selling and quantifying IA, here it is again: Measuring Information Architecture Panel at CHI 2001
And I'd love it if anyone who has links on selling, justifying and quantifying IA (and usability, what the heck) please share!
Usability and HTML Forms is one of the best articles I've seen on the subject. Lots of "aha" moments here.
These three examples demonstrate three different relationships between users and forms. The tax form is obligatory. It's a pain but has to be filled in. An e-commerce form is filled in by choice in a shopping environment where there are alternatives. In most cases the user can abandon the form and try a different company. A registration form at an early stage on a site creates the most fragile relationship. There are lots of alternatives and the reward is unclear - who knows what's inside?